Whew. My time here in Kenya has been truly amazing and exhausting. I can't believe how much has happened in the four weeks that I have been here. And even moreso, how God has been able to use a team of six girls, all slightly freaked out about spending a month preaching at crusades and revivals. This has been a month of watching God use me in my weakness.
The first week of ministry here we got to spend six hours of our day playing with children at Bliss school. This is a school for children aged around 3 to 5 years old who live in the slums of Katembwe. I am usually slightly freaked out by kids. It brought so much joy to my heart though to be around these children. Yes, they wiped me out. Yes, I had to get over my immense fear of sticky fingers and snotty noses (hand sanitizer is my new best friend). but I enjoyed the daily reminder of how beautiful a child's carefree and innocent spirit is. The last few hours of each day was spent in prayer in worship with a group of pastors in preparation for the crusade and revivals.
Our week with the children ended and we quickly went into doing door-to-door and street evangelism followed by a three day crusade on the streets of Katembwe. This is where I got to see God move in a big way. See, I am not an evangelist or a preacher. I know this is an odd thing to hear from someone who is currently serving on a mission trip, but it's true. So the idea of spending day after day doing this freaked me out. Somehow, in amidst all the fear, God gave me words to speak to each and every person I came in contact with. And it led me up onto a rickety platform in the middle of a street filled with crowds of people…a street where just 5 years ago was covered with people who had been slaughtered due to the political conflict that took place. It was a place where neighbors killed neighbors just over their tribe or which political leader they were following. It was night 3 of the crusade that I got to step up on that platform and speak about what God's love did for us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. In just the three days of the crusade and door-to-door evangelism, we saw 30 people come to Jesus. And we saw four people experience healing from pain and illness.
After the crusade ended, we continued doing door-to-door evangelism and leading revivals at different small churches in the surrounding area. One room churches made of mud and tin, some with just a dirt floor…but nonetheless packed full of people eager to hear the word of God, spoken through six young women. Over those 11 days we saw over 70 more people come to know Christ. Many Christians were revived and encouraged in their faith.
It has been crazy to see God work in this place. And it has been amazing to watch the people respond. I have been blessed to be able to spend a month here and meet so many wonderful people. It is now time to pack my bag though and head on to Rwanda for another month!
Bwana Asifiway!
